Zlime: Return of Demon Lord Preview

Welcome to the Demon World, full of unruly demons, where the only thing keeping them in check is the Demon Lord Zenoth. He has been the ruler for thousands of years with no question of his authority, despite many groups of heroes and other demons challenging him until now…

Astra, a cloaked researcher, has stepped up to challenge the Demon Lord. He has been spending his research time refining his magic skills to overthrow Zenoth, and he uses this power to steal "The Exernium," the source of Zenoth’s power. Astra threatens to transform the once-powerful Zenoth into a type of weak creature, and as he is casting the spell, another cloaked follower jumps in and transports him away. 

We begin Zlime: Return of Demo Lord outside the castle, in an area full of trees. A girl with bunny ears named Rabby is accompanied by a purple slime with red eyes, this constantly bouncing blob is the newly transformed Demon Lord. She is the one responsible for transporting Zenoth here and will help him on his mission to take down Astra and reclaim his spot as the Demon Lord, but of course, it will come at a cost. Luckily, there’s nothing that you will have to worry about right now; once Zenoth takes back his title, he will reward her. 

Rabby can use her teleporting ability to warp you around, moving you closer to the castle. She can’t just send you back to the throne room, as Astra has set up a barrier, so you will need to take the long way around. Zlime: Return of the Demon Lord is a 2D platformer that is also roguelike, so once you are defeated, you will start back at the first area to challenge it again. The game has five different areas you will challenge; the first couple, you will learn to know quite well as you will be playing through them a lot!

Controlling Zenoth’s new slime form is quite intuitive. If you are playing with a controller, the left thumbstick or D-pad is for moving, the bottom face button is to jump, hit twice to double jump, and the right is to attack. There is also a dash ability you can use to avoid attacks by hitting the left face button; this can be used on the ground or while in the air. However, there are a few other abilities that he has that are unique.

When you defeat enemies, like mushrooms, trees, or ravens, you can consume these demon creatures and transform into that form. This also allows you to use the skills that they have, and depending on which tier they are on, ranging from one to five, it will change the moves available to you. To absorb the defeated demon, you use the left shoulder button, and to switch from the slime into this new form, you use the left trigger. If you are a level one mushroom and you defeat a stronger one ranked at a higher level, you can turn back to your slime form and consume this new monster to gain new abilities. There is a limit to how long you can use these demon skills; you will need to have enough magic points (MP), as when you run out, you turn back to your regular slime form. 

All the enemies in that section of the stage need to be defeated before you can move on to the next. You may just want to fly through as fast as you can, but it is worth exploring and defeating all the demons so that you can collect more gold and scrolls that are used to learn new passive abilities. When you reach the end of the stage, there is a mini-boss fight, but before getting into battle, you have a chance to purchase relics to power up your character and items to replenish your health and MP. Once you are done shopping, it’s battle time! 

These mini-bosses are challenging and may require a few attempts to learn their attack patterns. Though if you die, it’s not the worst thing ever. Sure, you will lose your gold and the relics that you are currently holding, but you will keep all the scrolls and dark crystals that you found before you were defeated. As soon as you start a new run at the base, Elder Slime is there to teach you new Passive Skills to permanently increase your attack, defence, and health stats. You can even learn an ability that will give you an extra relic slot so that you can carry more power-ups. Strengthening your slime will definitely make your future runs a bit easier!

Zlime: Return of Demon Lord has a great retro, pixelated look to it, with vibrant colours and a large variety of cute-looking enemies to consume. Seriously, those little trees and mushrooms are freaking adorable, and they look so happy. It made me feel bad to defeat and consume them! With large and tough-looking mini-bosses that are ready to defeat you with just a couple of swipes of their sword.

The game's soundtrack is whimsical and upbeat, with flutes and piano as a highlight. I love how the battle music against the mini-bosses is intense and high-energy; this was a great contrast to the main stage track you hear. Though after multiple playthroughs of that first stage, it does get a bit repetitive after a while, but that is to be expected. Zlime: Return of Demon Lord doesn’t really have voice acting, just short quips like "argh," "awesome," or “alright” (picture Solid Snake from Metal Gear saying it). You will hear these short expressions a lot, and it gets quite annoying after you are constantly hearing them! 

I’m having a fun time playing Zlime: Return of Demon Lord. It has a lot of strategies that you can implement to make your playthroughs more successful. I appreciated that you don’t lose absolutely everything when you are defeated and can work on levelling up your abilities to make Zenoth stronger. There were a couple of odd things, like spelling mistakes or cutscenes playing with only the character speaking being visible and everything else being black in the background, but this isn’t enough to really detract from the game. I am sure that since this is in Early Access, these little issues will be resolved before Zlime: Return of Demon Lord fully releases. If you are a fan of 2D platformers like the Kirby titles with a roguelike twist, you will enjoy this title, especially all the adorable enemies that you encounter!